Tree Quiz

Bamboo

Spreading sideways through underground stems and sending up shoot after shoot after the rain, you bend but always spring back.

Green all yearSpread out wideHolds its shape

Bamboo is a member of the grass family that keeps green leaves all year. Its stems don't thicken from year to year and have no growth rings, so it's sometimes said to be closer to a grass than a tree. It sends underground stems out shallowly and sideways, pushes up shoot after shoot from them, and spreads into a grove.

The way bamboo shoots pop up one after another after rain gave Japanese a saying — “like bamboo shoots after rain” — for things that spring up all at once. Rather than preparing in detail beforehand, you tend to burst into action the moment conditions line up. Even so, your usual pace barely changes over the year.

Bamboo's fibers run straight through it, and when bent it springs strongly back to its original shape; it has long been used to make bows. Other people's opinions may sway you, but in the end you come back to your own way. Because you snap back so quickly, though, others can feel you weren't really listening.

Strengths

You can get going with whatever's at hand, even when the materials or tools aren't all there
When conditions line up, you get moving without hesitating
However much people shake you up, you find your way back to your own approach

Where you may stumble

Because you act as soon as the idea comes, gaps in your preparation show up later
Even after hearing people out, you end up back at your usual way
You spread yourself across so many things that you lose track of how far each one has gotten

Sounds familiar, Bamboo?

When rain catches you on a trip, you make do with whatever's at hand instead of buying an umbrella there
The day after you seemed down, you turn up as if nothing ever happened
When it suddenly rains while you're out, you put whatever's handy on your head and keep walking

Where you shine

Work that has to start before all the materials or tools are in place, or a moment when extra hands are suddenly needed. Your knack for getting moving with what's there tends to come in handy.

Tips for “Bamboo”

Before you start, check for just one thing you might be missing
After hearing someone's opinion, try working one part of it into your own way
Once a week, write down everything you've branched out into and take stock

Matches

See every match in the Tree Quiz compatibility chart →

Easy together

Palm Tree — The Palm Tree is also green all year and puts down roots right on whatever beach it washes up on. You both act in the moment, and when the Palm, so good at fitting in, steps in between, the Bamboo can return to its own way without ruffling feathers.

Easy together

Japanese Maple — The Japanese Maple also puts down roots where it lands and has hard wood. It holds its own shape too, but it rests clearly in winter, which gives the Bamboo, prone to spreading without pause, a cue to take a breather.

May clash

Ginkgo — The Ginkgo roots deeply, grows in the same spot for centuries and adapts to others like its soft wood. With the Bamboo, which spreads in the moment and springs back to its own shape when bent, both how they move and how they give ground tend to be opposites.